We are a grass roots organization located in both Israel and the United States. Our intention is to be pro-active on behalf of Israel. This means we will identify the topics that need examination, analysis and promotion. Our intention is to write accurately what is going on here in Israel rather than react to the anti-Israel media pieces that comprise most of today's media outlets.

Saturday, May 05, 2012

The Palestinian Authority
government has also warned Palestinian journalists against helping
Western correspondents cover the crackdown. If Abu Rihan were a Chinese
dissident imprisoned in Beijing, his case would have been endorsed by
human rights groups around the world and the mainstream media in the
West. Had Abu Rihan been arrested by the Israeli authorities for such a
crime, his story would most likely have made it to the front page of
many respected newspapers. The Palestinian Authority does not want
anyone to report about corruption and abuse of power out of fear that
this would affect financial aid from the US, EU and other countries.

Jamal Abu Rihan is a Palestinian blogger and activist who is being held in a Palestinian Authority prison in the West Bank.

Security forces belonging to the Palestinian Authority government
arrested Abu Rihan after he created a Facebook group called "The People
Want to End Corruption."

Demanding reform and democracy has become a crime in the territories
under the control of the Palestinian Authority. Direct and indirect
criticism of Palestinian Authority leaders has also become a crime that
can land journalists, bloggers, cartoonists and political opponents in
prison.
Instead of going after top officials suspected of embezzling public
funds and abusing their powers, the Palestinian Authority government has
chosen to wage an unprecedented clampdown on those who dare to raise
their voices in support of transparency and freedom of speech.

Abu Rihan's anti-corruption group on Facebook has won the backing of
more than 6000 followers. These people clicked "like" and joined the
group within days of its launching. Some of the followers, especially
those living under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, now
fear being thrown into prison for committing the crime of demanding an
end to corruption.

The arrest of Abu Rihan and others is aimed at sending a warning to
Palestinians against criticizing their government and leaders.

The Palestinian Authority government has also warned Palestinian
journalists against reporting about the crackdown or helping Western
correspondents cover the crackdown on journalists and bloggers.
In the past few weeks, Palestinian security forces summoned a number
of Palestinian journalists for questioning about their ties with Western
journalists and media outlets.

Palestinians say that the campaign of intimidation and harassment
against the media is designed to prevent "negative reporting" about the
Palestinian Authority government. The Palestinian Authority does not
want anyone to report about corruption and abuse of power out of fear
that this would affect financial aid from the US, EU and other
countries.

The clampdown has thus been successful and most Palestinian and
international journalists seem to have understood the warning. That is
why the case of Abu Rihan, for example, has received almost no attention
in the Palestinian and Western media.

If Abu Rihan were a Chinese dissident imprisoned by the authorities
in Beijing, his case would have been endorsed by human rights groups
around the world and the mainstream media in the West. Had Abu Rihan
been arrested by the Israeli authorities for such a crime, his story
would have most likely made it to the front page of many respected
newspapers.

But when it comes to violations of freedom of expression in the West
Bank, the Palestinian Authority is given a pass by many Americans and
Europeans. By arresting reformists and critics, the Palestinian
Authority is once again proving that it is not serious about combating
corruption and reforming its institutions.

The crackdown on journalists, bloggers and political activists also
serves as a reminder that the Palestinian Authority government is not
different than most of the dictatorships in the Arab world.

Friday, May 04, 2012

The BBC has now sunk to pinning its stories against Israel on
people who refer to the Jewish state in terms of Nazism and Apartheid
By Robin Shepherd, The Commentator
“A UN expert has said he is appalled by the “continuing human rights
violations in Israeli prisons”, as Palestinian inmates continue a mass
hunger strike.“Special Rapporteur Robert [sic] Falk said Israel had to treat hunger strikers in line with international standards.“
Oh dear, oh dear. The BBC is pinning its stories on the words of Robert Falk. Or rather, that’s Richard Falk –
the BBC was obviously so excited at the prospect of a piece of Israel
bashing that in the news room’s heightened state of euphoria nobody
bothered to check out the man’s name. (I have remarked before that the
hysteria which usually drives anti-Zionism frequently results in an
abandonment of basic standards of normal behaviour and practice.)
Now, Richard Falk is actually rather well known, and here’s why.
Most bizzarely, perhaps, he’s a high profile “truther“ about the
events of September 11, 2001. In other words he thinks the attacks may
all have been cooked up in the White House, quite possibly by the
dreaded neo-Cons.

It was another one of those do-I-laugh-or-do-I-cry moments as I came across the latest piece of flagrant anti-Israeli propaganda on the BBC‘s website.

It started off badly enough with the headline – UN “appalled“ by Israel treatment of hunger strikers. Sorry, that’s just not a story. The UN is always “appalled“
by something to do with the Jewish state, and that’s because its
members are overwhelmingly in thrall to an obsessive anti-Zionist
bigotry which appears to know no bounds.

So, it was clear from the outset that this was going to be something
of a gratuitous hatchet job. Then again this is the BBC, so no surprises
there. But even I have to admit to having been surprised about just how
gratuitous it was going to be. Here are the first two paragraphs
from Yolande Knell’s story:
“A UN expert has said he is appalled by the “continuing human rights
violations in Israeli prisons”, as Palestinian inmates continue a mass
hunger strike.“Special Rapporteur Robert [sic] Falk said Israel had to treat hunger strikers in line with international standards.“
Oh dear, oh dear. The BBC is pinning its stories on the words of Robert Falk. Or rather, that’s Richard Falk –
the BBC was obviously so excited at the prospect of a piece of Israel
bashing that in the news room’s heightened state of euphoria nobody
bothered to check out the man’s name. (I have remarked before that the
hysteria which usually drives anti-Zionism frequently results in an
abandonment of basic standards of normal behaviour and practice.)
Now, Richard Falk is actually rather well known, and here’s why.

Most bizzarely, perhaps, he’s a high profile “truther“ about the
events of September 11, 2001. In other words he thinks the attacks may
all have been cooked up in the White House, quite possibly by the
dreaded neo-Cons.

Thursday, May 03, 2012

First, an update on little Zakkai,
for whom the prognosis is excellent, but who is having a very hard time -- as
are his parents. At this point he's cranky and miserable. And who
can blame him? There's only so much, if anything, that you can explain to a
toddler about how it will get better and how the nasty procedures he's enduring
are necessary.

I believe he's past the very worst
of the post-surgical pain, which required a host of medications including
morphine. And he no longer has to tolerate multiple IVs. So,
even though he doesn't realize it, he's getting there. The main problem
now has to do with the fact that the surgery punctured the barrier
protecting the thoracic cavity, which houses the lungs. This has
caused "pneumothorax" -- air in the space between the lungs and
the chest wall, which creates pressure on the lungs so they cannot
expand fully. The solution is a very uncomfortable suction tube that
draws out the air. Tests so far have indicated it must still be
used. But hopefully not for much longer...

JEROLD AUERBACH, NY SunBenzion
Netanyahu, who died Monday in Jerusalem at the age of 102, has been
widely scrutinzed this week for his myriad contributions to the history
of Zionism in Israel and the United States. Yet arguably the most
important one has been overlooked. After World War II, Benzion
Netanyahu, along with Irgun activist Peter Bergson, nephew of Mandatory
Palestine Chief Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, and liberal American Rabbi
Stephen S. Wise, drafted an article for inclusion in the United Nations
Charter that could yet save the Jewish state.
The article became known as the “Palestine clause”
for the protection it afforded to the right of Jewish settlement
throughout the Land of Israel west of the Jordan River. Article 80
extended the guarantees to Jews afforded by the League of Nations
Mandate for Palestine following World War I. The Mandate had recognized
“the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine” and “the
legitimacy of grounds for reconstituting their national home in that
country.” Jews were guaranteed “the right of close settlement”
throughout Palestine.

But where was “Palestine”? According to the Mandate, it comprised the
land east and west of the Jordan River, stretching from Iraq to the
Mediterranean. Jewish settlement rights in Palestine were limited only
in one respect: Great Britain, the Mandatory Trustee, was empowered to
“postpone” or “withhold” the right of Jews to settle east — but not west
— of the Jordan River. To reward the Hashemite sheikh, Abdullah, for
his wartime assistance, the British colonial secretary, Winston
Churchill, removed the land east of the river, comprising three-quarters
of Mandatory Palestine, to create the kingdom of Trans-Jordan.

No Jews would be permitted to settle there, but the internationally
guaranteed right of Jewish settlement throughout truncated Palestine
west of the river was preserved. It was that right that Article 80
secured after the expiration of the League of Nations. It explicitly
protected the rights of “any peoples” and “the terms of existing
international instruments to which members of the United Nations may
respectively be parties.” The “Palestine clause” thereby
guaranteed to Jews the right of “close settlement” throughout their
remaining land west of the Jordan River, as the League Mandate had done.

With their careful draftsmanship Benzion Netanyahu, Peter Bergson, and Rabbi Wise extended League of Nations guarantees and secured United Nations authorization for Jewish settlement throughout the biblical homeland of the Jewish people.
The legal right of Jewish settlement, except in the land siphoned off
from Palestine as Trans-Jordan in 1922, has never been abrogated.
Persistent efforts to undermine the legitimacy of settlements, according
to international legal expert Julius Stone, have been nothing less than
the “subversion . . . of basic international law principles.”
Article 80 was unaffected by the Six-Day War, which obliterated
Jordanian control over Judea and Samaria (its “West Bank”). According to
Security Council Resolution 242, Israel was permitted to administer
that land until “a just and lasting peace in the Middle East was
secured.” That has not yet happened, to be sure, but even then, Israel
would only be required, under its carefully drafted language, to
withdraw its armed forces — civilians were not mentioned — from
“territories,” not from “the territories” or “all the territories.”

The “Jewish right of settlement,” according to Eugene V. Rostow, then
America’s state undersecretary political affairs, “is equivalent in
every way to the right of the existing [Palestinian] population to live
there.”

Article 80 has never been repealed. But Benzion Netanyahu’s son,
Prime Minister Netanyahu, seems inclined to disregard it. During his
first term he signed the Hebron Protocol, confining 600 Jewish residents
to a tiny ghetto in their ancient holy city. His critics may insist
that he remains under the influence of his father’s right-wing
dogmatism. But abundant evidence suggests otherwise, which is no doubt
why his father often expressed concern that he son wasn’t tough enough
to serve as prime minister.

Benzion Netanyahu helped to write the fundamental principle of
Zionism, the right of Jewish settlement throughout the Land of Israel,
into the United Nations Charter. How sadly ironic it would be if
Benjamin Netanyahu, whose graveside eulogy paid loving tribute to his
father’s great gift to his sons of “a sense of responsibility to our
nation,” surrenders the land that his father tried with passionate
determination and perseverance to preserve for the Jewish people.Mr. Auerbach, professor emeritus of history at Wellesley College,
is the author of “Hebron Jews, Brothers at War” and, just published,
“Against the Grain: A Historian’s Journey” (Quid Pro Books).

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

We
begin with life. Most specifically that of little Zakkai, who
has now successfully come through the surgery to remove that tumor from his
thoracic cavity. The surgeons are saying they removed all
of it. What is more, the aorta turned out not to be involved, which
was a huge thing -- although a couple of lesser blood vessels were
affected. This little boy is now recovering from an extensive procedure
that involved such things as cutting the muscles of his chest. The first
update from his parents indicated that he was in pain, and having trouble
breathing because of those chest muscles. There is, however,
considerable reason to believe that he will bounce back readily after an
initial difficult period. Please G-d! Keep praying until he's all
the way recovered.

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Exactly 11 years ago on April 16, 2001 the then Saudi
Arabian-backed Hamas terrorist organization launched its first rocket
into Israel.Hamas
is the ruling entity of the Gaza Strip and recognized as a terrorist
group by the US, European Union, Canada, Japan and Israel. (Read more about Hamas.)

This single rocket launch was just the beginning, and to date, more than 12,700 rockets and mortars, an average of 3 attacks every single day,
have landed in Israel endangering the lives of more than 1,000,000
civilians. Those civilians living in the danger zone have learned to be
acutely aware of the location of the closest bomb shelter at any given
moment, because they never know when the siren will go off next.

Faced with this relentless barrage of rockets fired from the Gaza
Strip, Israel developed a variety of defense measures ranging from
measures to identify and precisely target rocket launch sites–sometimes
even just seconds before a launch attempt–to sophisticated missile defense systems.
Despite the constant threat aimed at civilians, the IDF strives to
keep the casualty count to a minimum. Whether it’s the instructors of
the IDF Home Front Command who visit schools and teach children how to act when the warning sirens go off,
or the Iron Dome system intercepting and destroying rockets headed for
population centers, the IDF works hard to protect Israel and its
citizens.
Read more about the rocket attacks from Gaza: First rocket fired from Gaza at Israel exactly 11 years ago

Ben White, who is apparently a writer specializing in hating Israel, wrote an article in Electronic Intifada criticizing my post pointing out the hypocrisy of
the British Co-op boycott of Agrexco, which I noted also effectively
hurts the livelihood of most Palestinian Arab farmers. In his critique,
White unwittingly shows exactly the hypocrisy that I am talking about.

Following the decision of major UK supermaket chain the Co-op to boycott
four Israeli suppliers, Israel’s apologists have responded with an
‘argument’ of unintentional hilarity: that BDS harms the Palestinians it
claims to help.

One would be forgiven for viewing this newly discovered concern for
Palestinian farmers living under Israel’s colonial occupation with
scepticism, given that the same folks downplay, deny, or whitewash the
routine apartheid policies enforced by Israel’s military.

Monday, April 30, 2012

In the interests of accuracy, an
addition to the information I provided last week on the excellent video "Israel
Inside": Tal Ben-Shahar did not generate the original idea for this
film -- although he did run with it once he was approached. The producer
of the film, Rafael Shore, conceptualized it and came to Tal with the
idea.

~~~~~~~~~~

As to that "start," I am referring
to a delay that was requested by the government on the demolition of Givat
Ha'Ulpana:

On instructions from the
government, the attorney general went to the High Court on Friday and
requested that the Court release the government from its pledge to demolish
housing in Ulpana this very week.

Before I proceed further, I want
to point out what we are seeing here: Just days ago, I was reading, from
multiple sources, that it would be impossible, or near-impossible, to
stop the demolition, because the Court had ordered it on the pledge of the
government. That was nonsense, as many of us understood. And what we
see now is how politicized this process is -- how much it is
a question of political will.

Hundreds of visitorsto the hill, arriving by car or foot, the nation's flags
waving in the GushEtzion
winds – Eretz Israel air. Jeep tours drive by the smoothly worked fielsadjacent to the roads
to the hill, almost every meter fought over with Arabs. Here a plot planted two years ago
in honor of Jonathan Pollard, there a plotplanted a year back by Suseya graduates; a field planted
a year and a half agoby
an Efrat family celebrating a daughter's bat-mitzvah. Here a field redeemedby the youth of
Gush-Etzion, there a plot inmemory of Deborah Frank z"l, resident of Bat-Yam and a fighter for theLandofIsrael, and many more

.

Stubbornness – aneeded trait in Netzer. Without the perseverance of tens
of activists andsupporters,
all the hills between Alon Shevut and Elazar would have been in Arabhands a long time ago.

To be fair,
President Obama has taken some actions that have been helpful: Pushing through
the Bush trade deals, opposing Internet restrictions, shepherding the recent
JOBS Act that removed government barriers to capital formation and obtaining
additional spectrum for broadband. These have been positive, pro-innovation and
pro-business measures -- but they have not been enough.

Obama's 20+ year membership in rev. jeremiah wright's
jew-hating united trinity church of christ in chicago. would anyone ever think
of voting for a KKK member of
20 years?

His closeness to Louis
Farrakhan, Father Pfleger, Bernadine Dohrn, William Ayers, Tony Rezko, Rashid
Klhalidi, Edward Said, Robert Malley and his funding for the "Arab
American Action Nework" in Chicago have never been adequately explained.

According to Koranic law,
having a muslim father , automatically makes the offspring Muslim, as well. why
no outcry from Muslims calling for his death, as decreed n Koranic law for his
conversion to Christianity?

In 2008, in a broadcast
on NYTimes' columnist Nicholas Kristof's show, Obama recited, by heart, in
perfect Arabic, a Koranic prayer and stated it was one of the most beautiful
pieces of music he had ever heard.Obama's first
international phone call from the white house was to the terrorist leader of
the PLO, Mahmoud Abbas.

His speeches in Cairo and
in Turkey glorified Islam, never calling for an end to Muslim terror.

Obama's speech to the UN
in 2010 promised a Palestinian state in a year. He encouraged Palestinians to
fight for statehood and to refuse to negotiate with Israel unless
"settlements" were removed.

Obama joined the
Organization of Islamic Conference by appointing a radical Islamist to
represent us. Hillary spoke before this group in DC. recently.

Susan Rice's veto
of Security Council resolution condemning Israel for its
settlements was preceded and followed by her statements supporting such a
motion.

Hillary Clinton also
shrilly and vehemently voiced opposition to settlements;

Obama urged Israel to
apologize to turkey for its prevention of flotilla to reach Gaza

Obama has ordered the
removal of all terms in government statements, when discussing acts of terror,
the words, "Islamic terror," "Muslim," or
"Koran." the Pentagon investigation of Major Hasan's shooting of
fellow troops at Ft. Hood, decided this act of terror was a "workplace
shooting incidence."

Hillary Clinton's top aide, Huma Abedin's mother is leader
of the Muslim Brotherhood's group for women in Arabia and her brother is MB
leader in Oxford, England. Her late father founded the MB unit in Western
Michigan University. She has top security clearance. She is the wife of former
demised Dem Congressman, Anthony Weiner.

Obama supported Muslim
Brotherhood takeover in Libya and Egypt and still funds Egypt.

James Clapper, the
"Director of National Intelligence" stated publicly, that the Muslim
Brotherhood is "largely secular."

Obama's budgets for the
last three years have reduced funding for Israel's Anti Missile Systems. Israel
is producing its own arsenal of such weapons. Congress is seeing to it that we
still fund Israel's defenses, Not Obama

If Obama wins a second
term, all bets are off as to Israel. as he told Russian President Medvedev,
"when I win my next term, I'll be able to be flexible!"

Caroline Glick & Mark Levin: The Israeli Solution -- A One-State Pla

Why Israel Opposes International Forces in the Jordan Valley

U.S. scholars' group votes in favor of academic boycott of Israel

Yet another indication of the absolute corruption of American academia today. "US scholars' group votes in favor of academic boycott of Israel," from the Jerusalem Post, December 16: NEW YORK – The 5,000-member American Studies Association (ASA), which describes itself as “the nation’s oldest and largest association devoted to...http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/12/us-scholars-group-votes-in-favor-of-academic-boycott-of-israel.html

Israel Living Prophecy

A senior New Israel Fund officer told a U.S. official in 2010 that the disappearance of the Jewish state would not be a tragedy, according to a document that was leaked by Wikileaks...She commented that she believed that in 100 years Israel would be majority Arab and that the disappearance of a Jewish state would not be the tragedy that Israelis fear since it would become more democratic.

Mideast expert Michael Widlanski: Fatah is a joke

US-Israeli talks focus on Ahmadinejad's possible ouster

How to exploit the deep cracks forming in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration for removing the Iranian president was a top item on the agenda of the high-level talks between Barack Obama's advisers and Israeli officials at Mossad headquarters in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv, Wednesday, July 29.

DEBKAfile's Iranian sources report that Ahmadinejad's cabinet is falling apart; of his original lineup of 21 ministers, only nine remain at their posts.

The Identity Of The Land

Why the Palestinians need to recognize the Jewish State

We do NOT support a 2-state solution

A January 2009 poll found that Americans oppose creating a Palestinian state by 45-31 percent. A February 2009 Maagar Mohot Survey Institute poll has also shown that Israelis oppose creating a Palestinian state by 51-32 percent.

Many other polls tell a similar story.

These figures suggest that Americans and Israelis have understood that creating a Palestinian state under current conditions will not bring peace but merely another terror state.

Netanya,Israel

Jerusalem At Night

Why reconstruct Gaza without making demands

- that Shalit be release without convicted terrorists being released by Israel in exchange,

- that the US be put in charge of the southern border to ensure that Hamas isn’t rearmed?

- that their three preconditions be accepted by Hamas, i.e. agree to all former agreements,recognize Israel and renounce terror

- that Hamas amend their Charter

- That Hamas disconnect from Iran

The answer is that they don’t want to.

Children of Hamas

Picture of Hamas children the media does not show you

IDF: Civilian Deaths in Gaza Less than 25% of Total

A maximum of 25% of the Palestinians killed in Gaza since the beginning of the Israeli operation are innocent civilians, the head of the IDF's Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA), Col. Moshe Levi, said Wednesday. According to Palestinian medical officials, Israel has killed some 1,000 Palestinians and more than half of them are civilians. Levi said the CLA had compiled a list with the names of 900 Palestinians killed during the fighting. He said that 150 names were of women, children and elderly, and that the maximum number of civilians killed so far was 250. Levi also dismissed claims that 43 Palestinians were killed in an IDF attack on a Hamas terror cell that was firing mortars at Israeli forces from within an UNRWA school in Jabalya. Levi said 21 Palestinians were killed in the attack, including a number of Hamas operatives. (Jerusalem Post)

Hamas teaching the children of Gaza

An Iranian reformist daily newspaper has criticized Hamas "for risking lives of civilians, amongst them children, by hiding its forces in nurseries and hospitals." This is reported in today's Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam. The Palestinian daily adds that in response the Iranian government has closed the newspaper.

"The Iranian news agency "Irna" reported yesterday, that the Iranian Culture Ministry has closed the reformist daily newspaper "Karjo Zaran", because it published a report that included criticism of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). On December 30 the paper published a statement of a reformist student organization, that has criticized Hamas for risking lives of civilians, amongst them children, by hiding its forces in nurseries and hospitals. The statement was published whilst the Iranian government expresses a unified stands against Israel, and Tehran is overwhelmed by demonstrations against Israel."

[Al-Ayyam, Jan. 1, 2009] Thanks PMW

Iran-backed Hamas Rocket, Mortar Attacks and Nuclear Developments

9,400+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since 2003. [1]3,200+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza in 2008 alone. [2]6,500+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. [3]543+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza into Israeli territory during the ceasefire from June 19 to Dec. 19, 2008. [4]28 deaths caused by rockets and mortars fired from Gaza into Israel since 2001. The dead include Israelis, Palestinians and foreign workers. Since the ceasefire ended, Iran-backed Palestinian groups in Gaza fired rockets and mortars that killed an Israeli-Arab construction worker and a mother of four who was seeking shelter in a bus station as a rocket warning siren sounded. [5]1,000+ people in Israel injured from rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since 2001, including Israelis, Palestinians and foreign workers. Since the ceasefire, 44 Israelis have been injured and 200 have been treated for shock. [6]Thanks Israel Project

It began with this...

The British Foreign Office, November 2nd, 1917Dear Lord Rothschild,I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet.

“His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate theachievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities inPalestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.2

Signed,Arthur James Balfour[Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs]

Favorite Books

While Europe Slept

About Me

Semi-retired Professor, now also permanent resident of Israel;divides time between both countries-serves on several Boards of Directors for Israel advocacy groups;Chana, resident of Jerusalem, JCPA member

Syria is an Occupier-Are You Listening World?

As of this minute, Syria occupies at least 177 square miles of Lebanese soil. That you are now reading about it for the first time is as much a scandal as the occupation itself.

The news comes by way of a fact-finding survey of the Lebanese-Syrian border just produced by the International Lebanese Committee for UN Security Council Resolution 1559, an American NGO that has consultative status with the UN. In meticulous detail - supplemented by photographs and satellite images - the authors describe precisely where and how Lebanon has been infiltrated.

Though the land grabs are small affairs individually, they collectively add up to an area amounting to about 4% of Lebanese soil - in U.S. terms, the proportional equivalent of Arizona. Of particular note is that the area of Syrian conquest dwarves that of the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms which amount to an area of about 12 square miles.

It would be nice to see the Arab world protest this case of illegal occupation, given its passions about the subject.

Information worth Possessing

"Israel gave the Palestinians an autonomy in 42% of the West Bank and Gaza after the Oslo accords in the early 90's. Over 92% of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza were then under the administration of the Palestinian Authority and its Chairman Yasser Arafat.

"Israel is surrounded by 10 hostile Arab countries who do not even recognize its right to exist ( Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Algeria, Lybia, Morocco, Tunisia, Aden) and Iran"